President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to rejoin Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party on May 2 at a party group meeting, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said Friday.
On Thursday, sources in the AK Party administration also confirmed that an extraordinary congress was scheduled for May 21, during which President Erdoğan is expected to become the sole candidate for party chairmanship.
He will be replacing current AK Party Chairman Binali Yıldırım, who also serves as Prime Minister.
"We [the AK Party] will happily invite our president back to our party. There is no barrier stopping him from becoming the chairman. But, the first step is to make him a member of our party again," Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said Thursday while commenting on President Erdoğan's return to AK Party leadership.
Erdoğan was forced to cut his ties with the AK Party after being elected president in 2014, in line with the constitution, but the new constitutional reforms will allow the president to keep party affiliation.
Over 58 million voters participated in the April 16 referendum, in which the "yes" camp garnered 51.4 percent of the votes, while the "no" camp, on the other hand, got 48.6 percent of the votes.
